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Anthony Minghella

ANTHONY MINGHELLA  (1954 - 2008)

 Nationality:    English
email:    n/a     Website:    n/a

Literary Agent:    Judy Daish Associates Ltd  (Estate of)


Writer and theatre and film director Anthony Minghella died on Tuesday 18th March 2008 of a haemorrhage after having surgery for cancer of the tonsils and neck in Charing Cross Hospital. He was 54. He was born in Ryde on the Isle of Wight, where his parents ran an ice-cream factory. His interest in drama was sparked at Fairway Grammar School in Sandown (IoW) by teacher Gareth Pritchard, who taught English and directed him in school plays and whom he thanked in his Oscar acceptance speech (for The English Patient in 1997). He began his TV/film career as a runner on Magpie and later became a scriptwriter and editor on the children's soap Grange Hill. At the same time he was also writing plays. In 1984 he won the Critics' Circle Award for the most promising new playwright, for A Little Like Drowning, Love Bites and Two Planks and a Passion and then, two years later, for the award for best new play for Made in Bangkok. He went on to write for radio (Hang Up) and TV, scrioting a number of the Morse episodes and the entire series of The Storyteller, which starred John Hurt. In 1990 he wrote and directed Truly Madly Deeply, which starred Alan Rickman and Juliet Stephenson and which won a BAFTA for best original screenplay. In 1993 came Mr Wonderful, followed three years later by his greatest success, the nine-Oscar-winning The English Patient. Three years after that came The Talented Mr. Ripley (Oscar for best adaped screenplay), then Play (2001) and in 2003 Cold Mountain which won Renee Zellweger the Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role and was nominated for a further six awards. His latest work is an adaptation for television of Alexander McCall Smith's The No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency which is due to be broadcast over the Easter weekend. His The Ninth Life of Louis Drax is still in production and he had a small cameo role in the film Atonement, playing the interviewer. In 2005 he made his opera debut, directing MAdama Butterfly for Engish National Opera at the Coliseum. He was awarded the CBE in 2001.
obit from British Theatre Guide

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below is a list of Anthony Minghella's plays - click on a Play Title for more information

 Child's Play         Cigarettes and Chocolate         Days Like These         Driven To Distraction: A Case For Inspector Morse         Good Reason         Hangup         Interior: Room, Exterior: City         Little Like Drowning, A         Living With Dinasaurs         Love Bites         Made In Bangkok         Mobius The Stripper         Mosaic         Politics of Passion: The Plays of Anthony Minghella         Two Planks And A Passion         Whale Music

Child's Play

Synopsis:
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Notes:
Coventry 1982 (revised)

1st Produced:
Humberside Theatre, Hull    1978

Organisations:
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1st Published:
-   -

Music:
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Genre:
-

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Cigarettes and Chocolate

Synopsis:
Gemma causes consternation among her cappuccino quaffing, chattering class mates by suddenly deciding to stop talking.

Notes:
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1st Produced:
Man In The Moon Theatre, London    1997

Organisations:
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1st Published:
-   -

Music:
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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Days Like These

Synopsis:
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Notes:
for Comic Relief

1st Produced:
-    1989

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in "Plays: Two" Methuen, London, 1997   -

Music:
-

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If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
Short monologue One Act

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Driven To Distraction: A Case For Inspector Morse

Synopsis:
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Notes:
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1st Produced:
-    -

Organisations:
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1st Published:
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1994   -

Music:
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If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
Adaptation

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Good Reason

Synopsis:
Minghella's poem shows an affecting contemplation of infidelity from the perspective of two women - a mother and daughter - whose husbands have been unfaithful
Mark Brown, Sunday Herald

Notes:
by Elspeth Murray And Timm Nunn, from Anthony Minghella's Mosaic

1st Produced:
Edinburgh, Traverse / touring    2006

Organisations:
Reeling & Writhing

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Hangup

Synopsis:
a very brief telephone converstion between seperated lovers.

Notes:
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1st Produced:

Organisations:
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1st Published:
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Music:
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To Buy This Play:
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Genre:
One Act

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Interior: Room, Exterior: City

Synopsis:
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Notes:
Cigarettes And Chocolate; Hang Up; What if It's raining

1st Produced:
-    -

Organisations:
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1st Published:

Music:
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To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
film scripts

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Little Like Drowning, A

Synopsis:
suggests the visions of her life that pass through old Leonora's mind as she chats with her little granddaughter

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
CV--One touring Company, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire    1982

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in "Whale Music and Other Plays", Methuen, London, 1987   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  6            Female:  7            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Living With Dinasaurs

Synopsis:
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Notes:
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1st Produced:
-    -

Organisations:
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1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Love Bites

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Derby Playhouse, Derby    1984

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Made In Bangkok

Synopsis:
The setting is Bangkok, the message is a bleak indictment of commercial sex and the condemnation of human exploitation

Notes:
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1st Produced:

Organisations:
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1st Published:

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  7            Female:  5            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Mobius The Stripper

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
from story by Gabriel Josipovici

1st Produced:
Hull    1975

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
Adaptation

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Mosaic

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    -

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
One Act

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Politics of Passion: The Plays of Anthony Minghella

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Atlantic Stage 2, NY    2007

Organisations:
The Potomac Theatre Project

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Two Planks And A Passion

Synopsis:
set in York in 1392 tells of a performance of the Mystery Plays and the townspeople's efforts to impress Royalty

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Northcott Theatre, Exeter    1983

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Samuel French, London, 1985   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
Historical

Parts:
Male:  12            Female:  4            Other:  extras

Further Reference:
-

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Whale Music

Synopsis:
portrayal of the lives of a group of women - all fiends all bound by emotional ties - reflecting the attitudes and feelings of women today

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Gulbenkian Centre, University of Hull, Hull    1980

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Samuel French, London, 1983   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  10            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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